DURHAM'S MP is backing villagers in their fight against the opencast mining of fields near their homes.

Gerry Steinberg has lodged an objection to the Eco Energy Group's plan to extract 755,000 tonnes from a 157-acre area between Bowburn, Coxhoe and Old Quarrington.

If the scheme gets clearance mining will take place over three-and-a-half years to provide coal for electricity production.

Residents have revived the Bowburn Opencast Action Group, which was formed in the 1980s to fight opencast schemes in the area.

About 70 people attended a recent public meeting to discuss the plan and the group has launched a protest petition.

They are worried about dust and noise, and the impact of up to 100 lorries travelling to and from the site each day.

They also say that some homes are less than 200m from the site boundary.

Mr Steinberg said he was opposing the application because of the "dreadful situation that residents will be forced to tolerate and the horror that inevitably accompanies opencast coal extraction.

He said: "Opencast has had a dreadful impact on the environment in Durham and no more so than in the Bowburn area, the location for this application.

"If the application is approved, residents can expect a number of dreadful consequences.

"The last time there was an opencast in Bowburn residents, in many cases living as little as half-a-mile from the site, had significant dust deposits in their gardens and many more cases of asthma, particularly among children, were reported.

Mr Steinberg said the plan would be an "unjustifiable and harsh intrusion into open and highly visible countryside''.

The land would be ravaged and dust and debris would threaten the local flora and fauna.

The increase in lorries throughout the day would be intolerable for local people who would continually have to endure dust, diesel fumes, and noise.

The mining would offer no benefits and "merely blight the area.

"Former mining villages are only now recovering from the scars left by the industry and it would be dreadful if this application were approved.''

He added that he believed the application breached the planning and mineral extraction polices of Durham County Council, which will decide whether to give permission.